Last July, our EP Karlijn Paardekooper hosted the annual Ladies Lunch for women in our industry. Shots asked her to think about the 1o take-aways of this lunch.

1 We see that the shift from classical tv commercials towards more online-drive content is in full swing. Although tv commercials don’t go extinct, they are indeed becoming a rarity. Our job is to find a way to keep the level of quality we’re known for for all kinds of new media outlets (and corresponding, somewhat inferior budgets). That’s a great challenge.

2 Along with this shift, we see that more and more agencies build up their own production units. Although we understand this from a monetary perspective, we absolutely discourage this development. Quality and creativity should be the denominators in our industry. And producing is a craft, it’s as kill that not only CZAR, but all other production companies have cherished and nurtured over the years. We’ve developed the craft of production/direction over the course of the last 25 years. We know what we do, and we like what we do. Both the quality and creativity are of utmost importance to us. But these elements seem to be irrelevant for in-house production units.

3 The directors are our most important assets. They determine the level of quality. Therefore, building up their ways of expression their creativity buttom up (as we do through our junior department CZAR jr.), is still the best way to get the most of our directors. Loyalty and mutual respect, that’s what it’s all about.

4 Every year, CZAR jr. wins a price at the Young Director Award at Cannes. This was widely discussed and shows that the way we work through CZAR jr. & CZAR really gets the most out of our junior directors.

5 Although our junior directors are very important to us, our seniors went home with some Lions in Cannes. For instance, Bart Timmer went home with 3 Lions for his Volkswagen film (Laughing Horses).

6 Altogether, CZAR and our liaison Bacon went home with no less than 12 Lions this year. A very good score.

7 We see the shifts in the industry, and are ready to anticipate. We’re currently developing some features, but cannot tell to much about it.

8 Since it was a worm day during our luncheon, some women got really, really hot. 😉

9 The invite read ‘Happy in the Hamptons’ (last year’s invite red Cote at the Keizer (we’re located at the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam)), so some ladies thought there was a dresscode. We always encourage to be as you are. But some fancy dresses are always a nice sight.

10 The responsibilities and number of roles persons in our agency can take was also discussed. We see that the account manager these days also takes over the role of producer. Our answer to this is actually quite the same as our answer towards in-house production units. It’s a nice Dutch expression: “Schoenmaker, blijf bij uw leest.” It translates to something like “As a bear has no tail, for a lion he’ll fail.” It’s important that everyone’s talents an competences are valued, but that should mean that someone should stick to their given tasks and responsibilities. For us, it would be really upsetting if a director would go on and produce his own film, while the producer determines the framing of the shots. Wouldn’t it?

We’re back from the Riviera. While some of us lost a few things along the Croisette, others gained. Bart Timmer ultimately wins three Cannes Lions for his Volkswagen film. Martin Werner went home with a Bronze Lion for his work on IKEA. Jeppe Rønde wins no less than seven Lions with his amazing work for momondo. And last but not least, our lovely new talent Judith Veenendaal wins a Young Director Award. That means that for five consecutive years, we’ve won this award for outstanding new talent. That alone is worth a party. If we’re up for it again, that is…